Wrestling Observer Rewinder

February 03, 2003

Lots of questions this week regarding the pro wrestling future of The Rock. There's talk that he's planning to semi-retire following Wrestlemania. This has been rumored for awhile. Dave says Rock has been eyeing an exit from the business ever since last year when movie critic Roger Ebert praised his acting ability and told him to get as far away from pro wrestling as possible. Publicly, Rock has claimed he would never give up wrestling, but with his movie commitments, the reality is that it will be impossible for him to juggle both. Currently, Rock is not committed to anything past the April PPV. as he's expected to begin filming the movie "Walking Tall" in May.
As for Rock's current in-ring plans, things have changed and the rumored Rock vs. Goldberg match at Wrestlemania seems to be off. Rock has been strongly pushing for the match, talking to Goldberg and even meeting with him on the set of "Helldorado" (later to be renamed "The Rundown"). Goldberg loved the idea of coming in for a quick pay day, working 2 matches with Rock, and that's it. But WWE wants more and are pushing Goldberg to sign a real contract and work 10 shows a month. Goldberg countered, offering to work the 2 Rock matches and then come back later in the year for a few other big PPVs, but that's it. He clearly has no interest in being a full time guy. Negotiations have reached an impasse and talks have soured over the past week. So with that said, the new plan for Wrestlemania is Rock vs. Austin. Dave thinks this makes more sense right now anyway. Wrestlemania is going to do huge numbers no matter what, no sense wasting Goldberg on it when they could bring him in later and pop two huge buyrates instead of one. Plus, after recent comments by Austin in Raw magazine (Dave hasn't read it yet, more on that next week), it sounds like they're going to be pushing that Austin was upset about Rock's comments last year accusing him of "taking his ball and going home." So they're playing off that (kinda crazy that what ended up being Austin's retirement match only came together because the Goldberg plans fell through).
There's serious talk of changing the PPV format next year, with each brand alternating months of exclusive PPVs, but then coming together for the 4 major shows (Mania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, and Rumble). Dave thinks it's a good idea on paper because you can build longer stories to bigger blow-off matches. Of course, considering WWE basically books week-to-week now with very little long-term planning, he doubts they will take advantage of the extra time to slow burn things. It also means Raw PPVs are going to be a CHORE to get through without all those Smackdown stars having great matches the way they have been (yeah, Raw in 2003 was tough to watch compared to Smackdown). There's also the benefit that lower-card guys who don't often get the chance to work PPVs might be able to now. The downside is for the top wrestlers, who are used to getting big PPV payoffs every month, will now only get them every other month. 8 yearly PPV bonuses instead of 12. Whether the audience is willing to pay for PPVs with half of the WWE stars they know and love missing remains to be seen.
Did you enjoy The Sheik's obituary last week? Good news! Dave basically wrote another one! Wtf Dave? 6,000 more words on the life and career of The Sheik. This one has a lot of quotes and stories from various wrestlers over the years, like the time Sheik refused to wrestle Lou Thesz, and Thesz refused to work one of Sheik's bloodbath hardcore matches. So when the bell rang, Sheik ran out of the ring and crawled under a bus in a snowstorm and refused to come out and the police and firemen had to come and it created a big scene and got a lot of local media attention (this story is also discussed in that "Blood & Fire" book I talked about in the last post). Basically recounts his entire career in detail, particularly in Japan. Talks about how he helped guide Sabu's career, which probably hurt Sabu more than helped. Sheik had a reputation for refusing to do jobs, being hard to work with, not trusting anyone, etc. and Sabu's career has suffered at times (especially in the US) for following those same examples that were instilled in him. This is a super long read but once again, typical great stuff.
What might end up as the final episode of Tough Enough ended with Matt Cappotelli and John Hennigan winning 1-year developmental deals. The deals are for a guaranteed $52,000 the first year and jumps to $78,000 if WWE decides to pick up an option for a second year. More importantly though, there was no word on a 4th season of Tough Enough. WWE and MTV have had negotiations but they arent going good. While some names have come out of the show, the returns seem to be diminishing and the ratings have gone down. Dave recounts the whole history of Tough Enough, all the winners, controversies, what became of some past contestants, etc.
Oh yeah, a bit more on our winners: Hennigan was a contestant last year and was cut after making it to the top 25, much to the shock of people who thought he should have been picked last year, and impressed everyone with his athleticism and agility. He has wrestled on the Sacromento indies as John Onyx. Meanwhile, Cappotelli was a high school football star with no background at all in wrestling. Both men were pretty much pegged from day 1 as the eventual winners and sure enough, they did. Cappotelli was the sentimental favorite after the Bob Holly incident and in a recent interview, revealed he was still upset about it. "The minute Bob Holly walked into that ring, he basically contradicted everything we’d been taught," Cappotelli said. He wasn't wrong.
WATCH: Bob Holly roughs up Matt Cappotelli on Tough Enough - 2003
WWE's tour of Japan and South Korea was a major success. The crowd at the Seoul show in South Korea (WWE's first ever show there) had the hottest crowd they've had in awhile and they went nuts for everything. The shows in Japan were a bit different. These were Raw branded shows, meaning none of the Smackdown stars were there, and apparently, those are the ones the Japanese fans prefer. They don't want Triple H and Kane, they want people like Benoit, Lesnar, and Angle. Alas. Dave does note that Stacy Keibler was super popular in both countries. Yeah, her hotness transcends culture barriers.
The Owen Hart out-of-court settlement is back in the news after a judge ruled that the Hart family and/or its legal team engaged in some kind of fraud. The point hinges on Martha Hart's decision to dismiss the manufacturer of the snap shackle that failed to support Owen's weight during the stunt (Lewmar Inc.) from her lawsuit. Hart and Lewmar Inc. settled out of court for no money, while the WWE ended up settling for many millions of dollars back in 2000. This new ruling argues that, if the case had gone to trial, Lewmar Inc. likely would have been found at least partially liable for Owen's death. The claim is that Hart's lawyers attempted to fraudulantly pin all the blame on WWE rather than spreading it around to other parties who also played a part. As a result of this ruling, WWE is now allowed to sue Lewmar Inc. in attempt to recover some or all of the settlement money they paid to the Harts.
Here's some more details on the lawsuit WWC in Puerto Rico has filed against rival promotion IWA. If you recall last year, long-time WWC star Ray Gonzalez jumped to IWA. WWC claims he signed a 7-year contract with them that runs through 2003 and has a non-compete through 2006, with annual pay increases. In the lawsuit, WWC admits that they were $8,400 behind on paying Gonzalez when he left in July of 2002, but claims they paid him $4000 on his last show and were prepared to pay him the remaining $4,400 at the next TV taping, but he left before they could. WWC is seeking nearly $800,000 in damages, claiming IWA used Gonzalez as a main event star, drawing huge gates, in direct violation of his non-compete and also against Telemundo for allowing Gonzalez to appear on IWA television every week, which they claim has hurt them significantly in their bitter ratings war with IWA. Meanwhile, Gonzalez continues to appear in IWA under a mask as Rey Fenix (no relation) although everyone knows who it is. The masked gimmick is basically played up as a wink-wink-nudge-nudge thing (this gets settled pretty soon in IWA's favor, as WWC continues getting dominated in this war).
Japanese supermodel Eiko Koike "admitted in public" that she's dating Zero-1 wrestler Wataru Sakata. I love how Dave phrases that lol. Anyway, they ended up getting married and far as I can tell, are still together. And she's an actress now.
Keiji Muto will be defending the AJPW Triple Crown title against Shinya Hashimoto at this month's Budokan Hall show. A few months back, this would have been a guaranteed sellout, but after the disastrous last couple of WRESTLE-1 shows, that's not a sure thing anymore. (We're getting close to the point where AJPW stops running Budokan altogether because they can't sustain it. Dark days for AJPW).
Speaking of WRESTLE-1, that show in the Tokyo Dome last month drew only 6,000 paid fans. It's the lowest paid attendance for a Tokyo Dome show ever. It did a strong TV rating, due to Bob Sapp, so they're trying to spin it as a success, but in the company, most everyone acknowledges that it was a huge flop. Dave still hasn't seen it yet (next week) but he's heard the Sapp vs. Ernesto Hoost worked match was so bad it has to be seen. Dave HAS seen one match from the show, the Abdullah the Butcher match, and gives it NEGATIVE 4 STARS, calling it the worst match he's seen in many years. And word is the Sapp/Hoost match is even worse. (Weirdly enough, this entire show is available to watch on archive.org of all places.)
WATCH: AJPW/K-1 WRESTLE-1 in Tokyo Dome 2003 Full Show
When WWE was in Tokyo, Triple H, Ric Flair, and Stephanie McMahon went out after the show drinking with Keiji Muto and Satoshi Kojima. Basically, Flair and Muto wanted to hang out, and they each brought their friends. Triple H had no idea who Kojima was and had to ask him. Kojima mentioned having held the MLW title in the U.S. and Triple H didn't know what that was either, and it was all a big blow to Kojima's ego. Muto wanted to discuss business with Stephanie, but they all ended up drinking and never discussed anything of importance (poor Kojima lol).
Shinya Makabe has held out on re-signing with NJPW. Money isn't the issue. Makabe is wanting a guarantee that he will be pushed as more of a semi-main event level guy on a consistent basis. NJPW feels his overall progress has been disappointing and won't promise him that so they're kind of at a stalemate right now.
Ken Shamrock is rumored to be working an upcoming Tokyo Dome show for NJPW in May. This leads Dave to recount the history of Shamrock with NJPW, particularly back in 1997 where he had agreed to work with NJPW and would have won the IWGP title from Shinya Hashimoto in his first match. But then WWF came calling and he signed with them instead, even though NJPW had already started promoting the match. They were furious at the time, but seems they're over it now. Or desperate.
Former wrestler and RINGS founder Akira Maeda lost his appeal in Japanese court ruling that he had to pay about $13,000 USD to Pancrase president Masami Ozaki. For those who may remember maaaaany Observer Rewinds ago, Maeda assaulted Ozaki at a coffee shop in Tokyo after seeing the Pancrase president meeting with RINGS fighter Jeremy Horn. Maeda assumed Pancrase was trying to steal his guy and so he attacked. Attacking people is kinda Maeda's thing. Ozaki sued, Maeda lost, appealed, and lost again. He still faces criminal charges as well.
Both Sabu and RVD were unable to attend Sheik's funeral. Sabu was unable to get back into the country in time from Japan, while RVD was booked on the WWE Korea/Japan tour and wasn't allowed off.
An Atlanta newspaper had stories on the sons of Dusty Rhodes and Lex Luger. Turns out Dusty's young son Cody Runnels is quite the amateur wrestler, racking up a 34-0 record at his high school (no reports on how many of those matches he bladed in). He gave up football to concentrate on wrestling fully. He plans to wrestle in college before turning to pro wrestling. Meanwhile, Lex's kid Brian is a star basketball player for his school and seemingly has no interest in wrestling.
Tony Schiavone is scheduled to start with TNA this week to feud with Mike Tenay (yeah, this lasts exactly 1 show and goes nowhere and Tony vanishes from the wrestling scene for years after).
Random TNA news: Roddy Piper cut a meandering taped promo on the latest show full of shit no one would understand. Crowds seemed to have no idea who Nikita Koloff is. Road Warrior Hawk was running around backstage telling everyone he was a born again Christian. And Larry Zbyszko looked better than expected in his match with AJ Styles.
There are currently no house show dates planned for Austin, Rock, or Hogan. As of now, Rock is expected to work February through April TVs and PPVs, but he's deep in negotiations to star in a remake of "Walking Tall" which starts production in May. Dave talks about how the movie is a remake of a 1973 movie based on a real Tennessee sheriff named Buford Pusser and wouldn't you know it, he used to be a wrestler too.
Barry Buchanan, known most recently as John Cena's sidekick B2, has been released. They've tried multiple gimmicks with him over the years and finally just didn't have anything else for him after the Cena gig (he went on to have pretty lengthy runs in AJPW and NOAH for the next 6-7 years).
Notes from 1/23 Smackdown: everything on this show was in the shadow of Hulk Hogan's return, which was among the biggest and longest sustained crowd reactions in wrestling history. Dave hopes they've learned a lesson from the past. Hogan is great in small doses for things like this, but if they keep going back to this Hogan well too often and start depending on him to boost business weekly, it's going to be a bad idea. But this was an incredible moment that basically derailed the whole show. But elsewhere, Dave criticizes the company for not doing more to follow up on the Angle/Benoit match at Rumble. It was a classic match of the year contender that should have been talked about as something incredible that you missed if you didn't see it. Instead, Tazz just mentioned it briefly during commentary and that was it. Angle vs. Mysterio was great and was pushing 4 stars if they had more time. Mysterio was banged up on a German suplex spot and saw some neck doctors later in the week but he's ok.
WATCH: Hulk Hogan returns to Smackdown - 2003
Notes from 1/27 Raw: Chicago showed why it's the best wrestling city in the country by being a hot crowd that desperately tried to like the show, no matter what was thrown at them. Jeff Hardy's heel turn got off to a great start with him losing clean to Booker T and then failing in his attempted post-match attack (that heel turn is short-lived). Scott Steiner got "what!" chanted out of the building and Dave says it's just gonna get worse. Triple H's still-unnamed group is clearly trying to pattern itself after the Four Horsemen. This is obviously leading to a rematch and even Triple H's staunchest critics can see that he has to beat Steiner, because holy shit has he been exposed and Triple H needs to move on from this guy as soon as possible. Shawn Michaels cut a promo talking shit about Jericho's checkerboard pants, leading Dave to remark, "A man with that haircut cannot do such a thing." Trish Stratus vs. Victoria in a Chicago Street Fight was the best match of the show and they both worked hard, leading to Jazz returning to attack Trish afterwards. They aired an awesome video hyping up Austin's return, and the crowd seemed unhappy that he wasn't there. Dave says the stockholders would be even more unhappy if they blew his return on free TV. Show ended with the new Triple H Horsemen group beating up Steiner.
Random WWE News & Notes: Gene Okerlund has signed a new deal to do more backstage stuff. Bill DeMott has nerve damage in his arm. Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar will happen for the first time at a Raw house show in Madison Square Garden, because fuck the brand split when it comes to MSG. Bryan Danielson was told he will be brought in for more dark matches but they want him to get a haircut and a tan.
There has been talks about an on-demand pay service to air old WWE footage, but one of the big reasons it hasn't happened yet is due to the time and cost of having to edit all video and audio references to "WWF" (but ugh, they sure managed to do it). This is another reason the company is looking to acquire old video tape libraries, in order to have a larger library to draw on without the headaches of having to edit all their own footage. Currently, they're working to acquire the AWA library to go along with the WCW footage they own. The ECW footage is still tied up in bankruptcy court, but WWE is clearly interested in that as well.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council released a decision ruling in favor of WWE and TSN over a recent complaint. There was a segment last year where the Dudleys put Stacy Keibler through a table and it aired, which was thought to violate a Canadian broadcast rule about glamorizing or promoting violence against women. But the decision ruled that the announcers, particularly JR, yelled during the segment that what the Dudleys were doing was wrong and therefore clearly made viewers aware that what they were seeing was unacceptable. Thus, they did not glamorize or promote it.
Dave saw the OVW show where Damaja "quit" the company and attacked Rocky Johnson and Tom Prichard, in the angle used to explain why he wouldn't be in the Royal Rumble. Dave says it was actually one of the best angles he's seen in a long time and everyone played it up great. Thinks Cornette took a bad situation and made a strong angle out of it.
Lest one think Jeff Hardy's strange behavior is only limited to work, Matt Hardy posted a story about this past Christmas on his website. He wrote about Jeff showing up to Matt's 9pm Christmas party at 2am. When he gave Matt his gift, he opened it to find a 9-pound frozen fish that had been cleaned and smelled awful. Jeff had written "Mattitude Follower: v1" on the fish in Sharpie marker. As for the smell, Jeff said he'd wrapped it 2 days earlier. So....yeah. Jeff Hardy, folks.
Speaking of Jeff Hardy, he and Jamal are both still suspended from working house shows. Hardy for repeatedly being late to shows and Jamal for that whole resisting arrest/battery charge he's facing in Pensacola from last year. Both are continuing to work TVs as needed.
Comedian Jim Florentine was on the Howard Stern show and told a weird story. Said that when he was a kid, he used to go to MSG to watch the wrestling shows. There was a photographer he got to know who would get them right up at the front row. But this photographer was a bit touchy-feely with the kids and tells the story of how this guy tried to get a young Florentine to do sexual favors for him in exchange for giving him a bunch of wrestling photos and stuff. Dave says long-time MSG regulars will know exactly who the photographer was and will know that the story rings true. He does note that the photographer didn't work for WWWF at the time, and was just a guy who worked all the arenas and sold pics to wrestling magazines. Several months after the incident, Florentine says this photographer was arrested for molesting another kid.
Larry Zbyszko's lawsuit against WWE and Chris Jericho is leading to depositions this week. Zbyszko has already been deposed, while McMahon is scheduled to sit for questions this week. The issue stems from Chris Jericho's calling himself the "Living Legend", a nickname Zbyszko actually has trademarked for wrestling use. WWE didn't take the threat seriously at first, continuing to use the term and Jericho even made some not-so-subtle jabs at Zbyszko on TV. But they've abruptly stopped using the term since as the lawsuit drags on.